With last night’s debut of its second-generation Leaf, Nissan becomes the latest automaker to charge into the long-range battery-electric market.

The 2018 model will travel an estimated 150 miles per charge — or nearly double what the original version of the battery-electric model delivered when it debuted in 2010. Though not quite up to the 200-plus-mile range of the new Tesla Model 3 and Chevrolet Bolt, the new Nissan Leaf is expected to be part of a game-changing trend that will bring a wave of long-range battery cars to market, vehicles that will largely eliminate the concept of “range anxiety” from the vocabulary.

Stay Plugged In!

The 2018 Leaf introduces a number of new features, such as its ProPilot Assist system, while keeping the price down at $30,000 – before factoring in federal tax incentives – underscoring another critical trend in the battery-electric market: as battery costs plunge, automakers are bringing more new EVs into mainstream price segments. Add faster charging and the potential appeal of these new models grows exponentially. (more…)

Mercedes will introduce a new battery sub-brand and launch it with a version of the Mercedes-EQ Concept.

With last month’s launch of the Tesla Model 3, U.S. consumers now have two “affordable” long-range battery-electric vehicles to choose from. Those with a bit more money in the bank can also opt for the more expensive Tesla Model S sedan and Model X SUV.

There are plenty of other electric vehicles in U.S. showrooms today, though most, like the current-generation Ford Focus Electric, can manage barely 100 miles per charge. The Mitsubishi MiEV, which will vanish at the end of the 2017 model-year, can only make it 59 miles before having to plug in again, according to the EPA.

We'll Keep You Plugged In!

But the new model-year not only will bring us the new Model 3 but a complete makeover of the Nissan Leaf, which will nearly double its range to at least 200 miles per charge. And that’s just for starters. By 2020, virtually every major automaker is expected to have at least one long-range model in its showrooms. Many of them will be in affordable – that is, under $40,000 base MSRP – segments, with plenty more in premium niches.

The EMotion is now scheduled to use an advanced lithium-ion battery pack, not graphene technology.

Battery-car pioneer Henrik Fisker has revealed a major change in the electric vehicle he plans to bring to market in 2019, dropping the cutting-edge graphene ultracapacitor technology originally in the works for the EMotion in favor of an advanced – but production-ready – version of familiar lithium-ion batteries.

The Danish designer-cum-entrepreneur told TheDetroitBureau.com, in an exclusive Monday interview, that the Fisker EMotion will initially come to market with a 145 kilowatt-hour battery pack – about 45% larger than offered by Tesla – capable of delivering “well over” 400 miles per charge. The 800-volt system also will deliver significantly faster charges than current EVs, Fisker promised.

Tech News!

The move to a lithium-ion battery rather than a graphene system is a big shift from what Fisker had originally announced when the EMotion was revealed last year, but he explained that graphene “technology wasn’t ready for prime time, yet, and we didn’t want to miss our launch date.”

The Lucid Air will be one of the world's fastest automobiles, the company promises.

It’s getting to the point where you can’t tell the new battery-car start-ups without a scorecard, California-based Lucid Motors the latest to charge onto the field.

Where a growing number of new and more established entrants into the EV market plan to target the mainstream, Lucid Motors is going after the extreme luxury segment with the Lucid Air sedan it unveiled this week, a vehicle that company officials are likening to “a private jet on four wheels.”

Get Charged Up!

It’s nearly as fast, the 1,000-horsepower battery-electric vehicle set to launch from 0 to 60 in as little as 2.5 seconds – or even faster than a Tesla Model S in Ludicrous Mode. The Lucid Air also boasts about 25% more range than the new Model S P90d, as much as 400 miles per charge. And, at $160,000 for a fully loaded version, it will be a fair bit more expensive than a top-end Tesla.

A prototype Chevrolet Bolt rolls down the line at the GM plant in Orion Township, Michigan.

The line is moving at a snail’s pace, but production of the Chevrolet Bolt is finally ramping up at the General Motors assembly plant in the Detroit suburb of Orion Township, with the first of the new, long-range battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs, set to go on sale before the end of the year.

Parent General Motors is hoping that it can steal a march on a variety of competitors, notably Tesla Motors, who hope to get their own long-range electric vehicles into showrooms over the next several years. With regulators in the U.S., Europe, Japan and China pushing the industry to expand sales of zero-emissions vehicles, the Bolt could provide the first real test of a vehicle designed to overcome so-called range anxiety.

Subscribe Now!

But whether motorists will take to the $37,495 Chevy Bolt – or any of the other, more mainstream BEVs to follow is far from certain. Fully electric models have accounted for just 0.4% of the U.S. market so far this year. Adding in plug-ins and conventional hybrids, battery-based vehicles still only make up a miniscule 2.5%.

Toyota worked with Tesla to develop the RAV4 EV it sold from 2012 to 2014.

Long focused on hydrogen fuel-cell technology, Toyota Motor Co. is reversing course and will now make a push into long-range battery-electric vehicles, according to several sources.

The move would add the Japanese giant to the list of manufacturers looking to market vehicles that get more than 200 miles per charge. A senior source within the company told TheDetroitBureau.com that Toyota will continue to work on hydrogen power, but he acknowledged the necessary “infrastructure isn’t there,” leaving the company no alternative if it hoped to meet stringent new emissions and mileage regulations.

Plug In - For Free!

“China has been pressure Toyota,” the source said, noting that the Asian nation has been aggressively promoting electrification as a way to address its endemic smog problems. U.S. regulators and clean advocates are also calling on Toyota to deliver battery cars, he said, adding, “That’s the big change for us.”